Tomato Bouquet

An avocado tree is growing in this white bucket with a small tuft of green also evident:

On closer examination, the tuft of green turns out to be a bouquet of tomato sprouts. Apparently a cherry tomato fell into the soil, got buried near the top, and all the seeds in the cherry tomato sprouted (sorry the pic is a little fuzzy):

I've had lots of volunteer tomatoes come up, but never scores from the same single tomato:

Always something new in the garden.

David and Abby In Town

From Philadelphia came David and friend Abby this week for a few days in Charlotte and Columbia. I got them for a full afternoon where we talked, made smoothies, hummus, and got a juicer ready for Dave to take back to Philly:

Caught this pic of the swallowtail butterfly caterpillars devouring a parsley plant where they hatched:

Is "Calling Out" Citizens Part of the President's Job?

Last night I watched the president's speech on healthcare—the first of his televised speeches I've had the heart to endure. And I watched to see if he said anything about "prevention" or "personal responsibility for one's own health" as a key variable in his plan to "fix" healthcare. And he didn't.

His plan seems to be, "Companies, you are free to call anything you want 'food' and offer it to Americans to eat, regardless of whether it is good or bad for one's health. And citizens, you are free to eat whatever you want and live however you want without negating your right to have unlimited amounts of money spent in an attempt to clean up the mess you create." (I am well aware that there are individual cases of illness and need that occur apart from a cause-effect scenario for which individuals can be deemed accountable. But those relatively few cases have not created the healthcare problem in America.)

The president's focus seems to be on the healthcare "system," not the health and well-being of individuals. It's a well-known fact that America spends more money per capita on "healthcare" (read "disease management") than any nation in the world, but ranks way down the list in terms of actual health. We are number one in trauma care, but in the "30's" (last time I checked) in "healthiness." It seems that the president's plan is focused on the "per capita" problem: How do we spend less money per capita on healthcare and move America's ranking higher among the developed nations of the world? We could spend less money and still have a nation full of unhealthy people. The per capita number would be better but it wouldn't change the health of people.

But the national goal ought not to be having the most efficient "system" of doctors, insurance companies, drug companies, and government. It ought to be to have the healthiest people. That's why this whole debate is mislabeled. It's not a healthcare debate, it's a disease-care debate. The focus is on sickness, not health.

What I learned last night was that anyone who (in the president's opinion) mis-characterizes his healthcare plan will be "called out" by his administration. But after hearing a commentator on the radio yesterday read a section of one of the developing plans, there's no way people will agree on what it means. It's hard to agree on something that can't be understood by the average citizen. So if, in the president's opinion, your interpretation of what he is saying is different than his, you will be called out and identified. Is this part of the president's job description—calling out citizens who disagree with him?

I would rather the president call out individuals who are not doing their best to live a healthy life—beginning with his own need to stop smoking. My son, Daniel, sent me a link to a post on the healthcare debacle that says it well (from the blog of retired philosophy professor Dr. Bill Vallicella—reprinted here without his permission):

The problem here is the liberal mentality. Faced with a problem such as obesity, the liberal wants to classify it as a public health problem -- which is absurd on the face of it. No doubt there are public health problems, and some of them are getting worse because of a failure to control the borders; but obesity is an individual problem to be solved (or left unsolved) by the individual and perhaps a few significant others. If obesity counts as a public health problem, then how could any health problem not count as a public health problem?

Here is the straight skinny on obesity: if you consume more calories than you burn, then you gain weight. If you burn more calories than you consume, then you lose weight. So if you want to lose weight, eat less and move more. Try it. It works. Of course there are people with special conditions. But I'm talking about the general run of the population. For the most part, people are fat because they refuse to discipline themselves. Liberals aid and abet them in their indiscipline. I am tempted to say that that is part of the very definition of a liberal. The liberal tendency is to shift responsibility from the agent and displace it onto factors external to the agent. So it's Burger King's fault that you have clogged arteries, not your fault. Nonsense on stilts.

The problem with liberals is not that they are stupid, but thay they stupefy themselves with their political correctness.

Evidence of Life on Planet Stallings

Am happy to report a new piece of evidence that there is a pulse on Planet Stallings. The last book on which I worked with Robert A. Schuller is available for pre-order at Amazon—should be shipping soon.

It was a good subject—what to do when life's circumstances work against all one's best efforts to maintain a relationship with God. Here's the "product description" from Amazon:

Robert A. Schuller explores the various ways individuals lose or experience interference with their connection to God. He explains that emotions such as shame, regret, fear, and disappointment can stand in the way of the intimate association God wants with His children. The good news is that when His people are struggling, God stays close. There are many ways to reestablish a dynamic connection with Him. Schuller calls these "Connection Corrections" and leads readers through identifying communication barriers and how to break them. Each chapter delves into the reasons readers fail to connect with God, how to begin repairing the broken wires, and the life-altering benefits of restoring a positive, power-filled relationship with Him. Readers who feel adrift from God will no find that no barrier is too big to keep them from a close, loving relationship with Him.

Habits, Habits

In the space of 24 hours this weekend I was confronted with three lessons on the same subject. I assumed they were for me, specifically, but perhaps they will create resonance in your thinking as well. The subject: habits.

1. I was standing in my neighbor's backyard discussing his amazing and fast-growing wild blackberry patch and how to cut it back before it takes over the neighborhood. His back yard, in an angular fashion, abuts the yard of another neighbor, separated by a fence. I was struck by the odd paths that were worn in the abutting back yard. You can see them in this picture, but they are even more pronounced, and further to the right, in person:

I didn't realize what they were until the black Lab that lived in that backyard came racing down to tear along the dividing fence with my neighbor's dog while we talked (see the worn path at the base of the fence on the Lab's side). After four or five laps the two dogs gave up and the Lab loped back up toward h/er house—on the central path you see in the picture. I was amazed. This dog's world seemed to consist of what s/he saw and encountered on the paths s/he had carved into the sod. The path branches jutting off to the right must have led to a couple of other points of (habitual) interests in h/er world. But I wondered: What pleasures and new horizons must the Lab be missing as a result of h/er habitual confinements to the same paths every day? More importantly, if I could take a God's-eye view of my life, what paths would I see in my world that I trod daily—loping mindlessly along like that Lab—without thinking; paths that act as blinders to what's around me? Indeed, those paths appear in the carpets of our homes over time. But what about the unseen mental and physical paths we create in the world? Habits.

2. I was reading an interview with a former Wall Street investment guy who made a career shift and returned to medical school and became a doctor, and now combines both areas of expertise in his return to "wholistic" investment counseling. He was talking about the kinds of things that contribute to mental acuity as we age—well-known things like crossword puzzles, juggling, ping-pong, learning a new language or musical instrument, etc. But he also mentioned the importance of breaking habitual patterns—things like brushing one's hair or teeth with the "opposite" hand and getting dressed with your eyes closed in order to force the brain to create new neural pathways. Those last suggestions were new to me and spoke to the habitual parts of my life. Think how many things we do habitually (teeth, hair, dressing) that are passive; that require no new thought, concentration, experimentation, or learning, and therefore contribute nothing to the expansion of our experience, elasticity, or enjoyment in life. Habits.

3. I'm currently reading a book called Maximum Achievement by a well-known corporate speaker and trainer named Brian Tracy. (The book is great—really forcing me to think in fresh ways about where I am in life, and why, versus where I'd like to be.) I was reading his thoughts on "habits" (pp. 90-91):

Virtually everything you do is the result of habit. The way you talk, the way you work, drive, think, interact with others, spend money and deal with the important people in your life are all largely habitual. Your behavior in every area of life is based on the accumulation of all your experiences, starting in infancy. Probably 95 percent of your actions an reactions are automatic, unconscious responses to your physical and human environment

Your habits are major obstacles to your becomeing the kind of person you want to be. Your habitual ways of thinking, feeling, talking and behaving are often roadblocks that stand between where you are today and where you really want to go. They keep you "running in place" . . . .

The most dangerous habits you can form, however, are mental habits. Because of the fact that whatever you think about continually you create in your life, your negative or self-limiting thoughts hurt you more than almost anything else you can engage in. . . .

Success and failure, happiness, and unhappiness, are largely the result of habit, of the automatic ways you respond and react to what's going on around you. Changing habits that are no longer consistent with your higher purposes is one of the hardest things you'll ever do, and one of the most essential to the quality of your life. But unless you've already reached some level of excellence or perfection, you are living today with habits that you must discard if you are going to move forward. Remember, bad habits are easy to form, but hard to live with; good habits are hard to form, but easy to live with. Your job is to form good habits and make them your masters.

The good news is that all habits are learned, and they can therefore be unlearned.

Habits.

I was glad to be confronted with the dangers, and opportunities, associated with living habitually. There are good habits and paths, to be sure (Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Jeremiah 6:16; 18:15). But I wonder if even the good ones can become the enemy of the best. Anything we do without fresh, conscious thinking—either reaffirmation to continue or sudden awareness of a new and better way—seems more passive than active.

This is fresh ground for me—at least as of this weekend. But I meditated on all these as I (rather mindlessly, except for continual prayers for safety) went up and down the ladders, pressure-washing the outside of my house. After hours of chewing this cud I decided it was worth passing on. (Maybe not the best image—but let me know your thoughts.)

*******************

One path being worn in my yard is to my compost bin. Checked the temp Sunday and things are heating up: